Jonathon is a 13-year-old boy who lives on a farm. He has always dreamt of being a soldier and he knows he can fight the British. He gets his chance when Hessians are sighted near his hometown. Without his father's permission, he joins other men to fight. He is captured by some soldiers and must find his way home.
Stuart Ellis is screwed. His mother is a single parent and her focus is Stuart. He always gets grounded for things that other kids' parents would have even noticed. Mack is his best friend and tries to help him out by giving him some ideas. None of them work. But then Stuart comes up with an idea about fixing his Mom up with his soccer coach. Friendships, family, and decisions make the rest of the book fit together perfectly.
Anthony Witherspoon, whom everybody calls Spoon, lives in Harlem, NY. When he goes off to the Academy, things change between him and his girlfriend, Gabi. He meets a girl named Chanelle who wants to be more than just friends. Then Gabi starts using drugs and Spoon has to help Gabi through. During that time, he starts to consider whether he and Gabi are still "meant for each other". He also has to figure out all the changes in his life and make some adjustments.
Ehmet lives in the Bosnian town of Sarajevo. During the war, the Yugoslav army and snipers had been firing at everyone there. Food, gas, and supplies were very limited due to the robbing of stores and the fact that stores were forced to go out of business. Then, his family decides to go to his aunt and uncle's house but his father stays and sends Ehmet and his mother ahead. Some men come to his aunt's house and his mother and Ehmet barely escape. His mother gets sick and dies on their way to his grandparents' house. He has to make it alone the rest of the way.
Richard has the ability to hear and enter paintings. There is a painting in his living room that tells him there is something very important in his past that he forgot about. They tell him that if he can find the right painting, it will tell him what it is and he will be able to remember. The rest of the book is about Richard's life while trying to locate the picture.
Grace goes to live at her Aunt Shay's house after her mother dies. Grace has premonitions of people and things but she can't tell whether the visions are in the past, present, or future. Her best friend is Emily Carbonel. They have a fight one day and Emily walks away. Before Emily leaves, Grace has a premonition in which someone kidnaps Emily. Then Emily disappears. Grace was the last person to talk to her before she turns up missing. The rest of the story is about Grace and Aunt Shay's son, Diego, trying to find Emily.
